CNN Anchors Fighting 'Hunger Games'-Style For Piers Morgan Spot

As Pier Morgan's time on CNN comes to a close this month, his on-air
colleagues at the network are apparently fighting for the
coveted 9pm time slot.

"Bill Weir, Don Lemon and Jake Tapper are in a 'death match' for
it," reports PageSix. "With one TV insider saying,
'It’s like ‘The Hunger Games’ at CNN, a fight to the death
between Weir, Lemon and Tapper for the slot.'"

Weir and Tapper are apparently old ABC rivals, “and are
fiercely competitive, to the point of strong hostility,” notes a
PageSix source. But one of our sources disputes this,
sayingthat's "complete crap" and
the two are in fact friends.

Weir, meanwhile, has received good ratings while guest
hosting on CNN this past week, but “he has produced a number of
pilots, which haven’t been picked up.”

Jake Tapper is among the
few people being seriously considered to replace Piers
Morgan.AP

Deadline reported a similar story a few weeks
ago, noting that the network is making four men — Jake
Tapper, Bill Weir, Don Lemon, and the recently arrived Michael
Smerconish — compete for the slot.

"Each anchor would bring a very different flavor to the
hour," writes The Huffington Post. "Smerconish has had a
long career as a centrist radio host. Weir was an ABC News
veteran who has been filing the odd report for a few months, but
is almost certainly expecting something bigger for himself
... Then, there's Lemon, who would seem to fit most
neatly into the primetime cable news
landscape."

Meanwhile, it's also rumored that Piers' replacement will be more
of a household name.

“Rosie O’Donnell is at the top; the rest are Joy Behar,
Ann Curry, Anthony Bourdain, David Muir, Star Jones, Anderson
Cooper and Rachel Maddow,” a source told The Daily News. “Most of the people that are
being considered are ones that either create news, are going to
make news or have rated really high on television in the past.”

“Piers Morgan Live,” whose 9 p.m. time slot had
previously belonged toLarry
King, was canceled amid some of its lowest-ever ratings at
a time when CNN head Jeff Zucker is trying
to fix the struggling channel’s lineup.